Golovkin's lost scalps

[S7V7N]

So where did Golovkin go wrong? He took the WBA interim shot thinking that Sturm would fight him & other division champions would actually operate under the same standards: want to unify. How naive. Would have been so much wiser to hold out for his WBC mandatory shot (WBC ranked him #3 in 2009) [boxing insider link won't work here, do a google search] which would have ended up against Chavez Jr. That in turn would have forced Martinez to fight him or vacate. Had this one step been advised to him, oh how his whole history would have changed (butterfly effect) & who knows where he'd be now.

Well enough of the what if's, here's how life has transpired for Gennady in the resulting 9 years since.

Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (26-0, 17KOs) WBA Interim MW Champion. Purse bid ordered. Vacates Belt.

“WBA interim champion Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (26-0, 17 KOs) has relinquished his title and his chance to fight Gennady. A purse bid for this fight should have taken place on Thursday but hence N’Jikam had made a decision to withdraw for good." said Hermann.

Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15KOs) WBO MW Champion. Turned down unification bout twice.

"I personally approached Pelullo twice about holding a fight between Golovkin and Pirog - the first time I wanted it to happen this past summer in Panama, where Gennady boxed with Kassim Ouma, and the second time I approached him was in autumn, a few days after Pirog's fight against Martirosyan. Both times, my proposal was rejected," Hermann said.

Pirog did eventually agree to fight the following year but suffered a back injury in training while hitting a tire with a sledgehammer, which in turn has forced him to withdraw from a highly anticipated unification with IBO/WBA "regular" champion Gennady Golovkin (23-0 20KOs).

Felix Sturm (37-2-2, 16 KOs) WBA Super MW Champion. Avoided mandatory defense for 2 years.

“I think Sturm, at this point, holds the record for being a champion with the longest amount of time without having a mandatory defense. Gennady was, about two years ago, the mandatory when he was the interim champion and Sturm was the regular champion. Then Sturm got elevated to super champion status, so for the last two years Gennady has tried to fight him" said Loeffler.

"Felix Sturm, he was with Universum, and when he wanted to leave Universum to be his own promoter - they approached me and they asked me how I could help them not fight Golovkin. So what happened is, I found a guy and spoke to him. And he offered Sturm a deal and said [to Sturm] "we can ask [the WBA] for super champion [status] and then you don't need to fight him.' And that's what happened," Oner said

"I would fight him on his channel, in his city. And we can share the revenue equally. Felix can immediately get a fight for his former title," Golovkin was quoted even after Sturm eventually lost it.

Daniel Geale (28-1, 15KOs) WBA Super & IBF MW Champion. Stripped of WBA title.

The World Boxing Association is planning to strip Daniel Geale (28-1, 15KOs) of the middleweight "super title." Geale won the WBA “Super Champion” title when he unified the WBA and IBF titles by winning a decision over existing WBA “Super Champion” Felix Sturm on September 1 in Oberhausen, Germany. However, because of Sturm’s long overdue mandatory obligation to Golovkin, the WBA declared the winner of Sturm/Geale bout must face the winner of Golovkin/Grzegorz Proksa by December 31. Geale turned down a potential lucrative fight against Golovkin on HBO to sign for the Mundine fight.

Geale again later turned down an April 26 fight against Golovkin as well, saying the pay-per-view channel in his native Australia would’ve been showing a UFC card, taking away a portion of his audience and also a source of potential revenue.

2 years later GGG was able to finally get him in the ring, TKO3: “He’s got immense power. He caught me in the right place at the right time. My hands were down. I’d just caught him. I thought I was safe. He definitely is a guy that’s going to be tough to beat,” Geale said.

Edwin Rodriguez (22-0, 15KOs) SMW Prospect. Turned down fight.

"Right now it's high risk, low reward to face Gennady but I was told that Edwin Rodriguez turned down a $500,000 payday to face him. That's a lot of money. Nobody wants to face this guy right now but that will change as Gennady gets more exposure here in the U.S.," said Sanchez.

Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28KOs) WBC MW Champion. Turned down unification.

“It would have been an idiotic, stupid economic decision, f***ing stupid as ****, for him to fight Golovkin now. Gennady doesn’t bring any money to the table, simple as that. This is his biggest fight right now [with Macklin], If he beats Macklin, it's going to up his marketability substantially and it’s going to make the fight more possible. Shut the f*** up, seriously. You're not right. Shut the f*** up and let [K2 Promotions] build their star. No, you're not right. A 38-year-old fighter is going to make as much money as he can. That's my job and if you don't get that - then go back to school,” DiBella said.

"I'm not sending a champion who is 38-years-old - after a year plus layoff - into a ring with this guy. I'm not saying they will never fight. I'm not speaking for Sergio, who is a grown ass man and controls his own career. The successor to Sergio Martiknez has already been determined and the next great middleweight is Triple G," DiBella said.

Darren Barker (25-1, 16KOs) Future IBF MW Champion. Turned down fight.

“They phoned up and asked if Barker wanted to fight him for the world title and I said ‘yes, yes’. They said all they needed were some sponsorship logos on the ring and some tickets. No money. I was like ‘f***’. I phoned Tony Sims and said ‘I got Darren a shot against this guy Golovkin... Tony?’. He went ‘f***off, no’. I said ‘he doesn’t even want a purse’ and he said ‘f*** off no’. Oleg was struggling to get anyone in the ring with him. They were basically willing to fight for free just to get the fights and they knew if they came over here against a popular fighter like Barker it would get a lot of publicity for his career. They fought in Canada, they fought in Panama, Monte Carlo, Ukraine, Kazakhstan. They were willing to fight for free to get the recognition, the activity and to keep proving he is the best champion.” Hearn said.

“I remember yes. I said it doesn’t matter what deal just give me a chance," said Golovkin.

Martin Murray (25-1-1, 11KOs) WBA Interim MW Champion. Turned down fight.

Oleg Hermann, manager of WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (28-0, 25KOs), says British fighter Martin Murray (25-1-1, 11KOs) has refused to face his boxer. They wanted to fight Murray on February 1 at Salle des etoiles in Monte Carlo, but Hermann says Murray is refusing to accept the fight. The WBA placed Murray in line as the mandatory challenger to Golovkin.

Martin Murray, although strapped with the WBA's interim-middleweight title, is not looking to face the full champion, Gennady Golovkin, in the immediate future. Murray defends his interim-belt on February 1 in Monte Carlo against Jarrod Fletcher. Golovkin is fighting in the main event. If Murray wins, he wants to target a rematch with IBF middleweight champion Felix Sturm

2 years later GGG was able to finally get him in the ring, TKO11: "He’s tough, he is on a different level to the other middleweight world champions. I trained twelve weeks for this fight. That was the best I could do and it was not good enough.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (48-1-1, 32KOs) SMW. Former WBC MW Champion. Turned down fight.

Negotiations for the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Gennady Golovkin pay-per-view fight have ceased according to Arum, but for an unspecified purse that was more than Arum’s Top Rank Inc. was willing to pay the popular Mexican fighter for facing Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (29-0, 26 KOs).

"It was not what I expected. It's not what you'd expect for fighting Golovkin. What I want is just for them to give me what [I'm worth]. I sold 600 thousand homes against [Sergio] Martinez [on pay-per-view] and surely this fight could sell something similar. I want to be paid fairly. I am not asking for anything excessive, just enough," said Chavez.

"We can't force anyone to get in the ring. We saw that with the Chavez fight. We agreed to a lot of conditions for the Chavez fight and it didn't happen," Loeffler said.

Peter Quillin (29-0, 21KOs) WBO MW Champion. Turned down unification.

"With respect to Peter Quillin, everyone knows that he loves to perform in front of the camera and make loud statements, working the public. For us, this is nothing more than words. It's one thing to talk about this fight, and it's quite another to sign a contract. It is here where we see what Quillin is actually worth. Needless to say - for our team, especially for Gennady, one of the main and primary tasks is to unify the belts. And we will make every effort to succeed in that," Hermann said.

"The network disputes only apply to Peter when Golovkin's name gets mentioned. And let me tell you why. Every time when Golovkin's name gets mentioned, he puts this fence in front of him and says it's the networks. Who was the first name that he mentioned after his win - an HBO fighter Sergio Martinez. The network wars only appear in his head when you mention Golovkin and no other fighter. Quillin has to either step up or stop claiming that he's the best middleweight. Why hide behind the Showtime veil. If he really wanted to fight Golovkin, then he would tell his people - [Al] Haymon or Oscar [De La Hoya] or whoever that makes the decisions for him, because he doesn't seem to have a backbone to make them. Gennady Golovkin is fighting main events on HBO, main events. Peter Quillin is fighting undercard fights on Showtime. He needs to tell whoever in his camp that he wants to fight Golovkin and come fight on HBO because that's where Golovkin fights, in main events," Sanchez said.

Sam Soliman (44-11, 18KOs) IBF MW Champion. Turned down unification.

"I only want the really big fights at the end of my career. The biggest fight for me is to unify the world titles against the Geale-Golovkin winner. I think I have the style to frustrate Golovkin and hopefully he’ll be ready to fight me for the unified world title around November." said Soliman.

"Gennady wants to prove that he's the best middleweight champion and the only way to prove that is to go out and fight the other champions, so we would go out and try to make a Sam Soliman fight - if it's possible. We made a significant offer to them, but naturally Taylor is the easier fight. They matched our offer & if someone can fight Taylor instead of Triple G, they will take that route, for the same price," Loeffler said.

"We got a very generous offer for this fight, pretty far along in negotiations with Golovkin. They had the Geale fight coming up and we had to wait a little bit and then this offer came in " Emhoff said.

Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32KOs) WBC MW Champion. Avoided mandatory defense. Ended up dropping belt.

"No organization owns my career. So I will do my part and what I want to do. I am the champion, but I am not a full middleweight. Whoever wants my title, they must fight me [on my terms]," said Cotto in response to the growing pressure from the WBC to face Golovkin

"We would contest that [if Cotto demanded a catch-weight]. There are a lot of concessions for a lot of different reasons, but he's the mandatory for the 160-pound title and not the 155-pound title," Sanchez said.

"We didn't get a response from Cotto. I reached out to his people....and you can't negotiate if you don't even get a response. That's one of those fights where Cotto either has to fight him in the future or vacate the title, according to the WBC. Like I said before, we can't force them to get in the ring. Whatever deal we work out with Cotto, would be in [Cotto's favor]. If him and Cotto fought at Madison Square Garden, it would be a huge fight. It would be completely sold out." said Loeffler.

Carl Froch (33-2, 24KOs) WBA SMW Champion. Turned down fight/Retired.

"We've already asked for that fight. Gennady put in over 12,000 people in the [Forum] and Carl Froch had 80,000 people at Wembley Stadium last year. There is no question, that would be a tremendous fight. I've told Eddie Hearn many times that Gennady would move to 168 and fight [Froch], but Carl is not committed to whether he's going to fight again or whether he's going to retire," Loeffler said

"Golovkin is the most feared fighter in the world now and Carl doesn’t need this fight. But he says he is intrigued by how he would deal with him. He’s crazy that way. If you go and have a fight and you lose or get knocked out it will leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth. There is not 10million in the pot. It’s definitely a career-threatening fight. Yes, Froch is financially comfortable, but that doesn’t mean he’ll get in the ring for less than he deserves, and that is a horrible, dangerous fight," Hearn said.

"I'd swerve Golovkin like the plague," Froch said.

"I offered Gennady Golovkin a fight at 172 but he didn't fancy it because I'm too big and strong for him and I can't make super-middleweight. I sit here at 13 stone 8 oz, so to make the super-middleweight limit I would have to chop my arm off or run a marathon and not eat for months. If I did box again, it would be at 172, at a catchweight."

"I do not know what to say about him. This is a man whose wife makes the decisions for him. That's all," said Golovkin.

Fedor Chudinov (13-0, 10 KOs) WBA SMW Champion. Turned down fight.

“Golovkin’s manager Oleg Herrmann offered us a fight in September in Germany. This comes as a confirmation and recognition of a loud statement that Fedor made on the day of his victory against Sturm. I don’t want this fight. I hope they would never meet in the ring in future”, said Hryunov

"Yes, [that fight was] suggested to me. But my team decided that it was too early to fight with an opponent of this level. Of course I can just go into this fight, but I think I need another year or two to prepare, to gain experience." Chudinov said.

Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) WBA SMW Champion. Turned down fight. Weight dispute.

"He's great boxer. It's very interesting for us - not just for us but for everybody. His situation is not perfect for this time. My situation is much better. [I want] 50-50 money, 50-50 weight, 50-50 situation. This is logic, 50-50. Andre Ward turned down a fight with me three times to HBO! He knows the truth and only excuses are from him. He even avoided me in Olympics by changing weight," Golovkin said.

“GGG is now clearly the ‘A’ side yet Ward still would want to dictate terms, which makes no sense. GGG would fight Ward on a 50-50 basis, the best 160-pounder versus the best 168-pounder [at] 164 [and] a 50-50 split on all proceeds. But it seems like Ward needs more tuneup fights. His attorney wrote a letter to HBO saying they wanted to fight Golovkin. He’s fighting at 172 right now [on an undercard] and we don’t know if he’s coming to 168. Ward-Golovkin is not a realistic fight at this point. Maybe after Golovkin unifies the titles we can talk the Ward fight. Froch just fought in front of 80,000 people in Wembley Stadium and UK pay-per-view money and that’s why we were willing to go up. No disrespect to Andre, just like we would go down to fight Floyd (Mayweather) at 154, it makes sense. It just doesn’t make sense to fight Andre because he’s not that relevant. There’s no guarantee that he fights at 168.” Loeffler said.

"The reality is when we offered them the fight, and this is before we knew he had a pay-per-view coming up. This was like a week before, I didn't' know anything about it. He wanted 50-50 and I said give it to him. I'm not going to argue about ten percent, give it to him. My lawyer sent back 'they turned it down in five minutes. If the shoe was on the foot, and I said that I was going to 175 and I was not going to touch Kovalev - I'll fight this guy and that guy, but if I fight Kovalev he's got to come to 170 or 172 - can you imagine what the headlines would be? And if my manager and my promoter were talking like they talk, can you imagine what the headlines would be? I don't want to talk about the guy anymore, I wish nothing but the best," Ward said.

“He’s a liar. He did send an email after the Lemieux fight was signed. The records will show that. He’s making an effort after we have a career planned for Golovkin. If it’s not Andre Ward, it’s not Andre Ward. Until we get these unification fights, he’s not on our radar until he fights and becomes relevant again,” Sanchez said.

"The offer that was sent was sent after we had announced our fight with Lemieux. All indications now is that he’ll move to 175 and fight Kovalev in the future but who knows,” stated Loeffler.

In Ward's defense, he did agree to the split, but not the weight. Golovkin was not moving to 168, he was trying to unify the division & secure big fights. This talk also came in the last moments of GGG finalizing his first PPV & finally getting another MW [Lemieux] to take a unification bout. Ward didn't wait around to find out how things would develop though, he moved up to 175lbs & never fought again at 168. He might have ended up being the next opponent for Golovkin had he known what Canelo was about to pull. We'll never know what might have been.

Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) WBO MW Champion. Turned down unification twice.

Golovkin would beat me & Eubank on the same night," said Saunders.

"I believe I'm a better champion than Lemieux was so deserve more. They are offering life changing money but it's not just about that because it would be a big risk for me. I know he wants to clean up the division, but I have to do what is best for my career. Realistically I am 18 months away from that fight," said Saunders.

“It won’t be Golovkin in April, that’s the date we were offered. It’s about making the fight on the right terms and more importantly at the right time,” Warren said.

6 months later Loeffler again made an offer.

"He says he wants it, [Saunders] and I know he wants it. That’s all about money. If the money is not right, then I can’t let it happen. It’s got to be right, because he’s seriously, seriously going into the lion’s den - a monster. He's going in there with him. The bottom line is that fight is a tough fight. I'm not saying if you get beat it's the end of the world, because it wouldn't be, but that's a tough fight. And if you’re going in with a guy [like Golovkin], then you have got to be paid for it", Warren said.

"We had numerous discussions first with Frank Warren and (Billy Joe) Saunders and that seemed to not go very far. It looks like Saunders wants to keep that WBO title for as long as possible without having to fight Gennady. When it comes to actually signing the contract it's,'Well, we'll fight him the next fight"" said Loeffler.

Chris Eubank Jr. (22-1, 17 KOs) WBA Interim & British MW Champion. Turned down fight.

"[I'll fight him] right now, tomorrow if possible. This guy is considered the best middleweight in the world and for me he doesn't deserve that position. For me, I feel like I have the tools to beat him so let's get it on. I told him I was ready for him, all I can do is wait to see if he's ready to step up and fight someone who isn't scared of him.With the reputation he has, to take that scalp - and to do it in England - then that's history and would have to go down as one of the biggest wins by a British fighter.

"There is no way he is supposed to lose to Golovkin, no way. My credibility is on the line. Am I talking nonsense?" Eubank Sr. said.

"I am waiting for the Eubanks to turn round and say we're not serious, it's just for a bit of press and PR. The danger is that everybody talks about fighting people," Hearn said.

"Everything agreed from our side, now waiting for Chris Eubank Jr., who all of a sudden has lost his pen," Golovkin said.

"I was negotiating for three weeks on that fight and negotiating with Chris Eubank Sr. made it seem like three years. We got into a position where everybody was ready to sign, he was offered the same pay-per-view structure as Anthony Joshua, Carl Froch and the one Kell Brook accepted. He wanted to select his own ticket prices, which when I saw I nearly fainted. I would have been strung up. He wanted to select his own undercard, select the purses for the undercard… talking about security and hotels - but unfortunately they [Eubank's] made the deal impossible," Hearn said.

"Let's just say we were under the impression for a long time that everything was settled [to make the fight with Eubank], that we had an agreement and everyone was willing to sign the contract, and Gennady was ready to fly to London. But every day, when it was necessary to proceed with the signing of the contract - they would come up with more demands - some of them totally inappropriate and unrealistic, and some were even even funny," Hermann said.

"I'm Ok. It's just not Carl Froch or Chris Eubank. This has been [happening to me for] a long time, even before [I entered the pros]. In my amateur career I beat Lucian Bute, [Andre] Dirrell, I beat everybody. I go into my pro career, and for two years - Felix Sturm, the German champion, he said 'no, no I don't want to fight with you.' Daniel Geale [didn't want to fight], [Miguel] Cotto, Canelo, everybody [didn't want to fight]. Every fighter, it's interesting, they just won't fight. [What Froch and Eubank are saying] is not new to me. Froch, Chris Eubank...they are just talking. This is not serious. This is like clowns. Everybody says 'I want to fight you - but not next. Maybe five years later,'" said Golovkin.

Canelo Alvarez (47-1-1, 32KOs) Lineal & WBC MW Champion. Avoided for 2 years. Dropped Belt.

Just click the link if you've been under a rock. Saga continues.

Honorable mentions: Only a lot of talk. Never any firm offers or timing just didn't work out.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26 KOs) WBA SWW Champion. Pipe dream. This was never going to happen.

“I’m not too big [for Mayweather]. My [weight].... 30 days before my fight, I’m 165 [pounds] after [drinking] water. Yesterday after sparring, I was 164. Especially for Floyd - I’ll go to 154 or 160 if he wants. Floyd is the best pound-for-pound. This is a dream fight," Golovkin said.

"The guy is too big, and he can take what you give him but you ain’t gonna be able to take what he gives, and plus he can smother you too. I’m just telling you that it’s not a good break for my son," Mayweather Sr. said.

"I don't think [there will be another offer that I can't refuse]. Don't even go to Canelo and Triple G - it don't matter [what they offer]. I gave [my manager] Al Haymon my word. I shook his hand and gave him my word that this is the last one. That's what I wanted to do," said Mayweather.

Erislandy Lara 23-2-2 (13 KO's) WBA SWW Champion. Just talk. No real offers.

"No, I haven't heard from his camp. Team Golovkin has seen a whole lot of fighters use his name and star power to promote their own careers without any intention of fighting him. (Lara has) called GGG’s name many times without any intentions of fighting him. I mean from our side we're pretty neutral. We do have an exclusive contract with HBO. I haven't approached the topic yet with HBO, if they would even approve someone like Lara. But if that becomes more of a serious conversation, that's something we'll certainly approach them with," said Loeffler.

"People think everyone is avoiding Golovkin. They say no one wants to fight Gennady, but we are ready to make that fight. If the money is right, we would love to do a mega-fight against the best middleweight in the world as Gennady Golovkin." DeCubas said.

James DeGale (23-1, 14KOs) IBF SMW Champion. Fight never offered, by either side.

"If Gennady goes up in weight to 168-pounds and beats DeGale, he's not going to keep the 168-pounds title. He'd go back down to middleweight. Sure, it's been discussed, that's something that's interesting on our side, too. If the timing is right. If Eddie Hearn would have called and said 'Eubank won't fight but James DeGale will' - we would have done that fight," Loeffler said.

"Golovkin is a beast. He's pound-for-pound probably one of the best in the world, but when he moves up in weight, I think he's going to get tested. If that fight ever got offered to me, I would jump straight in there with Golovkin and be confident of beating him. I want to fight Golovkin! We can do that! I'll come down in weight," said DeGale.

Gilberto Ramirez (34-0, 24 KOs) WBO SMW Champion. Fight never materialized. GGG fought Canelo.

“The fight Gilberto wants, assuming he’s successful in this [April 22 fight], is against Triple-G. And I would agree to that fight winner-take-all. I've been talking to Tom Loeffler about Golovkin challenging Ramirez for the super middleweight title - and we have a deal in principle,” Arum said.

“I would have to use all of the skills I have against him. It’s a really, really tough fight. It would be really interesting for all the people, for all my team, for everybody,” Ramirez said.

Possible if GGG's MW options vanish, but more money in his own division now that things have heated up. Don't see him moving up to SMW in the near future, if ever.

Let me remind you that these are only the notable ones that I could easily find documented, there's countless others out there I'm sure (feel free to bring them up). I really feel that we all missed out on some truly great fights (not that he would have won them all mind you) & a career that could have been elevated so much higher in the history annals of boxing. Oh, what could of been?

[Tony Trick-Pony]

Good breakdown, man.

Good lord, what a saga.

GGG will go down as a very ducked fighter for sure. After Deverychenko, I'd love to see him get BJS and finally unify but I have my doubts.

[Metho_4u]

Russia’s undefeated former WBO middleweight champion, Dmitry Pirog (20-0, 15ko), who was forced to retire from the sport through a debilitating back injury in 2012 whilst in training for a fight with Golovkin.

http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/should-gennady-golovkin-fear-the-return-of-dmitry-pirog/

[Metho_4u]

http://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/8133630/dmitry-pirog-his-august-hbo-fight-middleweight-titlist-gennady-golovkin-serious-back-injury

BACK INJURY! See that part? Stop trying to act like the guy was soooo avoided... he had PLENTY of attempts to solidify his legacy as a great fighter, but Sanchez was writing check golovkin's ass couldn't pay.

[Metho_4u]

And btw, you're post is too fuggin long, get golovkin's nuts out of your mouth

[E-Sharp]

GGG has held the WBC title since 2016 and STILL hasn't made a mandatory defense of the title (no wonder since Jermall Charlo is mandatory). He's the new Adonis Stevenson

[Zaroku]

So where did Golovkin go wrong? He took the WBA interim shot thinking that Sturm would fight him & other division champions would actually operate under the same standards: want to unify. How naive. Would have been so much wiser to hold out for his WBC mandatory shot (WBC ranked him #3 in 2009) [boxing insider link won't work here, do a google search] which would have ended up against Chavez Jr. That in turn would have forced Martinez to fight him or vacate. Had this one step been advised to him, oh how his whole history would have changed (butterfly effect) & who knows where he'd be now.

Well enough of the what if's, here's how life has transpired for Gennady in the resulting 9 years since.

Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (26-0, 17KOs) WBA Interim MW Champion. Purse bid ordered. Vacates Belt.

“WBA interim champion Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (26-0, 17 KOs) has relinquished his title and his chance to fight Gennady. A purse bid for this fight should have taken place on Thursday but hence N’Jikam had made a decision to withdraw for good." said Hermann.

Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15KOs) WBO MW Champion. Turned down unification bout twice.

"I personally approached Pelullo twice about holding a fight between Golovkin and Pirog - the first time I wanted it to happen this past summer in Panama, where Gennady boxed with Kassim Ouma, and the second time I approached him was in autumn, a few days after Pirog's fight against Martirosyan. Both times, my proposal was rejected," Hermann said.

Pirog did eventually agree to fight the following year but suffered a back injury in training while hitting a tire with a sledgehammer, which in turn has forced him to withdraw from a highly anticipated unification with IBO/WBA "regular" champion Gennady Golovkin (23-0 20KOs).

Felix Sturm (37-2-2, 16 KOs) WBA Super MW Champion. Avoided mandatory defense for 2 years.

“I think Sturm, at this point, holds the record for being a champion with the longest amount of time without having a mandatory defense. Gennady was, about two years ago, the mandatory when he was the interim champion and Sturm was the regular champion. Then Sturm got elevated to super champion status, so for the last two years Gennady has tried to fight him" said Loeffler.

"Felix Sturm, he was with Universum, and when he wanted to leave Universum to be his own promoter - they approached me and they asked me how I could help them not fight Golovkin. So what happened is, I found a guy and spoke to him. And he offered Sturm a deal and said [to Sturm] "we can ask [the WBA] for super champion [status] and then you don't need to fight him.' And that's what happened," Oner said

"I would fight him on his channel, in his city. And we can share the revenue equally. Felix can immediately get a fight for his former title," Golovkin was quoted even after Sturm eventually lost it.

Daniel Geale (28-1, 15KOs) WBA Super & IBF MW Champion. Stripped of WBA title.

The World Boxing Association is planning to strip Daniel Geale (28-1, 15KOs) of the middleweight "super title." Geale won the WBA “Super Champion” title when he unified the WBA and IBF titles by winning a decision over existing WBA “Super Champion” Felix Sturm on September 1 in Oberhausen, Germany. However, because of Sturm’s long overdue mandatory obligation to Golovkin, the WBA declared the winner of Sturm/Geale bout must face the winner of Golovkin/Grzegorz Proksa by December 31. Geale turned down a potential lucrative fight against Golovkin on HBO to sign for the Mundine fight.

Geale again later turned down an April 26 fight against Golovkin as well, saying the pay-per-view channel in his native Australia would’ve been showing a UFC card, taking away a portion of his audience and also a source of potential revenue.

2 years later GGG was able to finally get him in the ring, TKO3: “He’s got immense power. He caught me in the right place at the right time. My hands were down. I’d just caught him. I thought I was safe. He definitely is a guy that’s going to be tough to beat,” Geale said.

Edwin Rodriguez (22-0, 15KOs) SMW Prospect. Turned down fight.

"Right now it's high risk, low reward to face Gennady but I was told that Edwin Rodriguez turned down a $500,000 payday to face him. That's a lot of money. Nobody wants to face this guy right now but that will change as Gennady gets more exposure here in the U.S.," said Sanchez.

Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28KOs) WBC MW Champion. Turned down unification.

“It would have been an idiotic, stupid economic decision, f***ing stupid as ****, for him to fight Golovkin now. Gennady doesn’t bring any money to the table, simple as that. This is his biggest fight right now [with Macklin], If he beats Macklin, it's going to up his marketability substantially and it’s going to make the fight more possible. Shut the f*** up, seriously. You're not right. Shut the f*** up and let [K2 Promotions] build their star. No, you're not right. A 38-year-old fighter is going to make as much money as he can. That's my job and if you don't get that - then go back to school,” DiBella said.

"I'm not sending a champion who is 38-years-old - after a year plus layoff - into a ring with this guy. I'm not saying they will never fight. I'm not speaking for Sergio, who is a grown ass man and controls his own career. The successor to Sergio Martiknez has already been determined and the next great middleweight is Triple G," DiBella said.

Darren Barker (25-1, 16KOs) Future IBF MW Champion. Turned down fight.

“They phoned up and asked if Barker wanted to fight him for the world title and I said ‘yes, yes’. They said all they needed were some sponsorship logos on the ring and some tickets. No money. I was like ‘f***’. I phoned Tony Sims and said ‘I got Darren a shot against this guy Golovkin... Tony?’. He went ‘f***off, no’. I said ‘he doesn’t even want a purse’ and he said ‘f*** off no’. Oleg was struggling to get anyone in the ring with him. They were basically willing to fight for free just to get the fights and they knew if they came over here against a popular fighter like Barker it would get a lot of publicity for his career. They fought in Canada, they fought in Panama, Monte Carlo, Ukraine, Kazakhstan. They were willing to fight for free to get the recognition, the activity and to keep proving he is the best champion.” Hearn said.

“I remember yes. I said it doesn’t matter what deal just give me a chance," said Golovkin.

Martin Murray (25-1-1, 11KOs) WBA Interim MW Champion. Turned down fight.

Oleg Hermann, manager of WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (28-0, 25KOs), says British fighter Martin Murray (25-1-1, 11KOs) has refused to face his boxer. They wanted to fight Murray on February 1 at Salle des etoiles in Monte Carlo, but Hermann says Murray is refusing to accept the fight. The WBA placed Murray in line as the mandatory challenger to Golovkin.

Martin Murray, although strapped with the WBA's interim-middleweight title, is not looking to face the full champion, Gennady Golovkin, in the immediate future. Murray defends his interim-belt on February 1 in Monte Carlo against Jarrod Fletcher. Golovkin is fighting in the main event. If Murray wins, he wants to target a rematch with IBF middleweight champion Felix Sturm

2 years later GGG was able to finally get him in the ring, TKO11: "He’s tough, he is on a different level to the other middleweight world champions. I trained twelve weeks for this fight. That was the best I could do and it was not good enough.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (48-1-1, 32KOs) SMW. Former WBC MW Champion. Turned down fight.

Negotiations for the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Gennady Golovkin pay-per-view fight have ceased according to Arum, but for an unspecified purse that was more than Arum’s Top Rank Inc. was willing to pay the popular Mexican fighter for facing Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (29-0, 26 KOs).

"It was not what I expected. It's not what you'd expect for fighting Golovkin. What I want is just for them to give me what [I'm worth]. I sold 600 thousand homes against [Sergio] Martinez [on pay-per-view] and surely this fight could sell something similar. I want to be paid fairly. I am not asking for anything excessive, just enough," said Chavez.

"We can't force anyone to get in the ring. We saw that with the Chavez fight. We agreed to a lot of conditions for the Chavez fight and it didn't happen," Loeffler said.

Peter Quillin (29-0, 21KOs) WBO MW Champion. Turned down unification.

"With respect to Peter Quillin, everyone knows that he loves to perform in front of the camera and make loud statements, working the public. For us, this is nothing more than words. It's one thing to talk about this fight, and it's quite another to sign a contract. It is here where we see what Quillin is actually worth. Needless to say - for our team, especially for Gennady, one of the main and primary tasks is to unify the belts. And we will make every effort to succeed in that," Hermann said.

"The network disputes only apply to Peter when Golovkin's name gets mentioned. And let me tell you why. Every time when Golovkin's name gets mentioned, he puts this fence in front of him and says it's the networks. Who was the first name that he mentioned after his win - an HBO fighter Sergio Martinez. The network wars only appear in his head when you mention Golovkin and no other fighter. Quillin has to either step up or stop claiming that he's the best middleweight. Why hide behind the Showtime veil. If he really wanted to fight Golovkin, then he would tell his people - [Al] Haymon or Oscar [De La Hoya] or whoever that makes the decisions for him, because he doesn't seem to have a backbone to make them. Gennady Golovkin is fighting main events on HBO, main events. Peter Quillin is fighting undercard fights on Showtime. He needs to tell whoever in his camp that he wants to fight Golovkin and come fight on HBO because that's where Golovkin fights, in main events," Sanchez said.

Sam Soliman (44-11, 18KOs) IBF MW Champion. Turned down unification.

"I only want the really big fights at the end of my career. The biggest fight for me is to unify the world titles against the Geale-Golovkin winner. I think I have the style to frustrate Golovkin and hopefully he’ll be ready to fight me for the unified world title around November." said Soliman.

"Gennady wants to prove that he's the best middleweight champion and the only way to prove that is to go out and fight the other champions, so we would go out and try to make a Sam Soliman fight - if it's possible. We made a significant offer to them, but naturally Taylor is the easier fight. They matched our offer & if someone can fight Taylor instead of Triple G, they will take that route, for the same price," Loeffler said.

"We got a very generous offer for this fight, pretty far along in negotiations with Golovkin. They had the Geale fight coming up and we had to wait a little bit and then this offer came in " Emhoff said.

Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32KOs) WBC MW Champion. Avoided mandatory defense. Ended up dropping belt.

"No organization owns my career. So I will do my part and what I want to do. I am the champion, but I am not a full middleweight. Whoever wants my title, they must fight me [on my terms]," said Cotto in response to the growing pressure from the WBC to face Golovkin

"We would contest that [if Cotto demanded a catch-weight]. There are a lot of concessions for a lot of different reasons, but he's the mandatory for the 160-pound title and not the 155-pound title," Sanchez said.

"We didn't get a response from Cotto. I reached out to his people....and you can't negotiate if you don't even get a response. That's one of those fights where Cotto either has to fight him in the future or vacate the title, according to the WBC. Like I said before, we can't force them to get in the ring. Whatever deal we work out with Cotto, would be in [Cotto's favor]. If him and Cotto fought at Madison Square Garden, it would be a huge fight. It would be completely sold out." said Loeffler.

Carl Froch (33-2, 24KOs) WBA SMW Champion. Turned down fight/Retired.

"We've already asked for that fight. Gennady put in over 12,000 people in the [Forum] and Carl Froch had 80,000 people at Wembley Stadium last year. There is no question, that would be a tremendous fight. I've told Eddie Hearn many times that Gennady would move to 168 and fight [Froch], but Carl is not committed to whether he's going to fight again or whether he's going to retire," Loeffler said

"Golovkin is the most feared fighter in the world now and Carl doesn’t need this fight. But he says he is intrigued by how he would deal with him. He’s crazy that way. If you go and have a fight and you lose or get knocked out it will leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth. There is not 10million in the pot. It’s definitely a career-threatening fight. Yes, Froch is financially comfortable, but that doesn’t mean he’ll get in the ring for less than he deserves, and that is a horrible, dangerous fight," Hearn said.

"I'd swerve Golovkin like the plague," Froch said.

"I offered Gennady Golovkin a fight at 172 but he didn't fancy it because I'm too big and strong for him and I can't make super-middleweight. I sit here at 13 stone 8 oz, so to make the super-middleweight limit I would have to chop my arm off or run a marathon and not eat for months. If I did box again, it would be at 172, at a catchweight."

"I do not know what to say about him. This is a man whose wife makes the decisions for him. That's all," said Golovkin.

Fedor Chudinov (13-0, 10 KOs) WBA SMW Champion. Turned down fight.

“Golovkin’s manager Oleg Herrmann offered us a fight in September in Germany. This comes as a confirmation and recognition of a loud statement that Fedor made on the day of his victory against Sturm. I don’t want this fight. I hope they would never meet in the ring in future”, said Hryunov

"Yes, [that fight was] suggested to me. But my team decided that it was too early to fight with an opponent of this level. Of course I can just go into this fight, but I think I need another year or two to prepare, to gain experience." Chudinov said.

Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) WBA SMW Champion. Turned down fight. Weight dispute.

"He's great boxer. It's very interesting for us - not just for us but for everybody. His situation is not perfect for this time. My situation is much better. [I want] 50-50 money, 50-50 weight, 50-50 situation. This is logic, 50-50. Andre Ward turned down a fight with me three times to HBO! He knows the truth and only excuses are from him. He even avoided me in Olympics by changing weight," Golovkin said.

“GGG is now clearly the ‘A’ side yet Ward still would want to dictate terms, which makes no sense. GGG would fight Ward on a 50-50 basis, the best 160-pounder versus the best 168-pounder [at] 164 [and] a 50-50 split on all proceeds. But it seems like Ward needs more tuneup fights. His attorney wrote a letter to HBO saying they wanted to fight Golovkin. He’s fighting at 172 right now [on an undercard] and we don’t know if he’s coming to 168. Ward-Golovkin is not a realistic fight at this point. Maybe after Golovkin unifies the titles we can talk the Ward fight. Froch just fought in front of 80,000 people in Wembley Stadium and UK pay-per-view money and that’s why we were willing to go up. No disrespect to Andre, just like we would go down to fight Floyd (Mayweather) at 154, it makes sense. It just doesn’t make sense to fight Andre because he’s not that relevant. There’s no guarantee that he fights at 168.” Loeffler said.

"The reality is when we offered them the fight, and this is before we knew he had a pay-per-view coming up. This was like a week before, I didn't' know anything about it. He wanted 50-50 and I said give it to him. I'm not going to argue about ten percent, give it to him. My lawyer sent back 'they turned it down in five minutes. If the shoe was on the foot, and I said that I was going to 175 and I was not going to touch Kovalev - I'll fight this guy and that guy, but if I fight Kovalev he's got to come to 170 or 172 - can you imagine what the headlines would be? And if my manager and my promoter were talking like they talk, can you imagine what the headlines would be? I don't want to talk about the guy anymore, I wish nothing but the best," Ward said.

“He’s a liar. He did send an email after the Lemieux fight was signed. The records will show that. He’s making an effort after we have a career planned for Golovkin. If it’s not Andre Ward, it’s not Andre Ward. Until we get these unification fights, he’s not on our radar until he fights and becomes relevant again,” Sanchez said.

"The offer that was sent was sent after we had announced our fight with Lemieux. All indications now is that he’ll move to 175 and fight Kovalev in the future but who knows,” stated Loeffler.

In Ward's defense, he did agree to the split, but not the weight. Golovkin was not moving to 168, he was trying to unify the division & secure big fights. This talk also came in the last moments of GGG finalizing his first PPV & finally getting another MW [Lemieux] to take a unification bout. Ward didn't wait around to find out how things would develop though, he moved up to 175lbs & never fought again at 168. He might have ended up being the next opponent for Golovkin had he known what Canelo was about to pull. We'll never know what might have been.

Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) WBO MW Champion. Turned down unification twice.

Golovkin would beat me & Eubank on the same night," said Saunders.

"I believe I'm a better champion than Lemieux was so deserve more. They are offering life changing money but it's not just about that because it would be a big risk for me. I know he wants to clean up the division, but I have to do what is best for my career. Realistically I am 18 months away from that fight," said Saunders.

“It won’t be Golovkin in April, that’s the date we were offered. It’s about making the fight on the right terms and more importantly at the right time,” Warren said.

6 months later Loeffler again made an offer.

"He says he wants it, [Saunders] and I know he wants it. That’s all about money. If the money is not right, then I can’t let it happen. It’s got to be right, because he’s seriously, seriously going into the lion’s den - a monster. He's going in there with him. The bottom line is that fight is a tough fight. I'm not saying if you get beat it's the end of the world, because it wouldn't be, but that's a tough fight. And if you’re going in with a guy [like Golovkin], then you have got to be paid for it", Warren said.

"We had numerous discussions first with Frank Warren and (Billy Joe) Saunders and that seemed to not go very far. It looks like Saunders wants to keep that WBO title for as long as possible without having to fight Gennady. When it comes to actually signing the contract it's,'Well, we'll fight him the next fight"" said Loeffler.

Chris Eubank Jr. (22-1, 17 KOs) WBA Interim & British MW Champion. Turned down fight.

"[I'll fight him] right now, tomorrow if possible. This guy is considered the best middleweight in the world and for me he doesn't deserve that position. For me, I feel like I have the tools to beat him so let's get it on. I told him I was ready for him, all I can do is wait to see if he's ready to step up and fight someone who isn't scared of him.With the reputation he has, to take that scalp - and to do it in England - then that's history and would have to go down as one of the biggest wins by a British fighter.

"There is no way he is supposed to lose to Golovkin, no way. My credibility is on the line. Am I talking nonsense?" Eubank Sr. said.

"I am waiting for the Eubanks to turn round and say we're not serious, it's just for a bit of press and PR. The danger is that everybody talks about fighting people," Hearn said.

"Everything agreed from our side, now waiting for Chris Eubank Jr., who all of a sudden has lost his pen," Golovkin said.

"I was negotiating for three weeks on that fight and negotiating with Chris Eubank Sr. made it seem like three years. We got into a position where everybody was ready to sign, he was offered the same pay-per-view structure as Anthony Joshua, Carl Froch and the one Kell Brook accepted. He wanted to select his own ticket prices, which when I saw I nearly fainted. I would have been strung up. He wanted to select his own undercard, select the purses for the undercard… talking about security and hotels - but unfortunately they [Eubank's] made the deal impossible," Hearn said.

"Let's just say we were under the impression for a long time that everything was settled [to make the fight with Eubank], that we had an agreement and everyone was willing to sign the contract, and Gennady was ready to fly to London. But every day, when it was necessary to proceed with the signing of the contract - they would come up with more demands - some of them totally inappropriate and unrealistic, and some were even even funny," Hermann said.

"I'm Ok. It's just not Carl Froch or Chris Eubank. This has been [happening to me for] a long time, even before [I entered the pros]. In my amateur career I beat Lucian Bute, [Andre] Dirrell, I beat everybody. I go into my pro career, and for two years - Felix Sturm, the German champion, he said 'no, no I don't want to fight with you.' Daniel Geale [didn't want to fight], [Miguel] Cotto, Canelo, everybody [didn't want to fight]. Every fighter, it's interesting, they just won't fight. [What Froch and Eubank are saying] is not new to me. Froch, Chris Eubank...they are just talking. This is not serious. This is like clowns. Everybody says 'I want to fight you - but not next. Maybe five years later,'" said Golovkin.

Canelo Alvarez (47-1-1, 32KOs) Lineal & WBC MW Champion. Avoided for 2 years. Dropped Belt.

Just click the link if you've been under a rock. Saga continues.

Honorable mentions: Only a lot of talk. Never any firm offers or timing just didn't work out.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26 KOs) WBA SWW Champion. Pipe dream. This was never going to happen.

“I’m not too big [for Mayweather]. My [weight].... 30 days before my fight, I’m 165 [pounds] after [drinking] water. Yesterday after sparring, I was 164. Especially for Floyd - I’ll go to 154 or 160 if he wants. Floyd is the best pound-for-pound. This is a dream fight," Golovkin said.

"The guy is too big, and he can take what you give him but you ain’t gonna be able to take what he gives, and plus he can smother you too. I’m just telling you that it’s not a good break for my son," Mayweather Sr. said.

"I don't think [there will be another offer that I can't refuse]. Don't even go to Canelo and Triple G - it don't matter [what they offer]. I gave [my manager] Al Haymon my word. I shook his hand and gave him my word that this is the last one. That's what I wanted to do," said Mayweather.

Erislandy Lara 23-2-2 (13 KO's) WBA SWW Champion. Just talk. No real offers.

"No, I haven't heard from his camp. Team Golovkin has seen a whole lot of fighters use his name and star power to promote their own careers without any intention of fighting him. (Lara has) called GGG’s name many times without any intentions of fighting him. I mean from our side we're pretty neutral. We do have an exclusive contract with HBO. I haven't approached the topic yet with HBO, if they would even approve someone like Lara. But if that becomes more of a serious conversation, that's something we'll certainly approach them with," said Loeffler.

"People think everyone is avoiding Golovkin. They say no one wants to fight Gennady, but we are ready to make that fight. If the money is right, we would love to do a mega-fight against the best middleweight in the world as Gennady Golovkin." DeCubas said.

James DeGale (23-1, 14KOs) IBF SMW Champion. Fight never offered, by either side.

"If Gennady goes up in weight to 168-pounds and beats DeGale, he's not going to keep the 168-pounds title. He'd go back down to middleweight. Sure, it's been discussed, that's something that's interesting on our side, too. If the timing is right. If Eddie Hearn would have called and said 'Eubank won't fight but James DeGale will' - we would have done that fight," Loeffler said.

"Golovkin is a beast. He's pound-for-pound probably one of the best in the world, but when he moves up in weight, I think he's going to get tested. If that fight ever got offered to me, I would jump straight in there with Golovkin and be confident of beating him. I want to fight Golovkin! We can do that! I'll come down in weight," said DeGale.

Gilberto Ramirez (34-0, 24 KOs) WBO SMW Champion. Fight never materialized. GGG fought Canelo.

“The fight Gilberto wants, assuming he’s successful in this [April 22 fight], is against Triple-G. And I would agree to that fight winner-take-all. I've been talking to Tom Loeffler about Golovkin challenging Ramirez for the super middleweight title - and we have a deal in principle,” Arum said.

“I would have to use all of the skills I have against him. It’s a really, really tough fight. It would be really interesting for all the people, for all my team, for everybody,” Ramirez said.

Possible if GGG's MW options vanish, but more money in his own division now that things have heated up. Don't see him moving up to SMW in the near future, if ever.

Let me remind you that these are only the notable ones that I could easily find documented, there's countless others out there I'm sure (feel free to bring them up). I really feel that we all missed out on some truly great fights (not that he would have won them all mind you) & a career that could have been elevated so much higher in the history annals of boxing. Oh, what could of been?

Mad respect homie, great way to lay down the facts in a clear and concise timeline!

Green k

[Zaroku]

Good breakdown, man.

Good lord, what a saga.

GGG will go down as a very ducked fighter for sure. After Deverychenko, I'd love to see him get BJS and finally unify but I have my doubts.

He put it down to the fullest!

[Chuckguy]

I gave green k just for the length of the post

[S7V7N]

Russia’s undefeated former WBO middleweight champion, Dmitry Pirog (20-0, 15ko), who was forced to retire from the sport through a debilitating back injury in 2012 whilst in training for a fight with Golovkin.

It was specifically mentioned in the post bro. Doesn't cancel that his team still turned down Golovkin twice prior to that. There wouldn't have been an injury if he'd have accepted one of the two offers made the year prior.

The reason the post is so long is because it contains all the facts!